The invention relates to a new and novel jewelry article in which a pendant is made as separable elements, and the pendant serves as a clasp closing the pendant and attached chain.
Jewelry chains have long been known, and they have various forms of clasps to open and close them. These are often small, hard to use or manipulate, often requiring the assistance of another party to attach or remove the chain from the wearer.
The inventor herein is the inventor of prior U.S. Pat. No. 7,654,110, which shows a variety of embodiments in which a pendant is split into segments and connectable by magnetic elements, allowing the pendant to serve as both the clasp and pendant when there is a chain attached to the segments.
It has been found by the inventor that integrating a mechanical interlock in a hidden manner with the magnetic attachment means described in the '110 patent provides a substantially foolproof method and apparatus allowing the pendant to both serve as a pendant and clasp and have the attachment of the segments be most secure.
An object of this invention is to provide an improved jewelry item in which a clasp is more easily handled by the wearer.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a clasp for a split pendant in which the split pendant serves as a clasp when attached to a chain but the split members are together with a mechanical interlock ensuring the pieces remain together.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide such mechanical interlock in which horizontal pulling apart of the split pendant members is prevented.
Other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become more apparent from the following description.